The Verge published a video demonstrating how desktop mode and Office 2013 - a desktop application - work on Windows RT, the ARM version of Windows 8. The video showed a desktop mode that clearly didn't work well for touch, and even Office 2013, which has a rudimentary touch mode built-in, didn't work properly either. It looked and felt clunky, often didn't respond properly, and even showed touch lag.

Even Windows Media Center, which some people seem to like, is incredibly confusing and way too much work for a simple TV environment.

I know several people who use WMC. All of them ordinary home users, none of them needed any help. It's probably safe to say more than some people like it, and I doubt it's remotely close to your "incredibly confusing and way too much work" claim. If Windows and/or WMC is that challenging for somebody, my first thought would be either they have crap issue-laden hardware, or they're really lame when it comes to computers.